Two Ukrainian soldiers have been wounded over the last 24 hours as the military reports another night of heavy fighting, particularly in the Donetsk area.
Military spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko said that 55 attacks had been recorded over the last day. Both casualties were incurred outside Avdeyevka, north of Donetsk.
48 of those attacks took place in the Donetsk area alone, claimed Yevgeny Romanov, press officer for what the Ukrainian military calls 'Sector B.'
Speaking to the 112 television channel, Romanov said that Russian-backed fighters had used 120 mm mortars to shell Ukrainian positions in Opytnoye.
Aleksandr Kindsfater, another military spokesman, said that both 120 and 82 mm mortars had been used to shell both Krasnogorovka, west of Donetsk, and Gnutovo, northeast of Mariupol. The ATO Press Centre also reported that Ukrainian troops near Vodyanoye, east of Mariupol, had been shelled with 82 mm mortars.
Five attacks were recorded between midnight and 6:00 in the Donetsk area, with another seven during this timespan near Mariupol.
In addition, attacks with grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms were reported across the front line from Marinka to Zaytsevo.
Meanwhile the 'defence ministry' of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) claims that Ukrainian troops conducted 19 attacks over the last 24 hours.
According to the DNR, the northern and western outskirts of Donetsk city were fired on with 120 mm mortars, recoilless rifles, anti-aircraft artillery and small arms.
-- Pierre Vaux